Friday, April 30, 2021

Justice for Denmark: The Other Side of the Deportation Story

Zero Asylum Seekers

Recently, there have been many online articles criticizing Denmark for sending some of its Syrian refugees back now that it is safe enough for them to return to Damascus. But why criticize Denmark for telling the Syrians to return to their homeland? Denmark has already made it very clear to these people that their residence permit is only temporary and they should return home when it is safe to do so. Surely, there is nothing wrong offering them money and telling them to go home! In this article, I would like to tell the other side of the deportation story because I honestly feel that it is all so unfair to blame Denmark for sending Syrians back to Syria after the country has done so much to help them throughout the years. Just because Denmark has been supporting them for years on humanitarian grounds, this does not mean that they have the right to stay in Denmark forever. Allowing them to stay would only encourage more migrants to sneak into the EU countries and aggravate the European migrant crisis that is already getting from bad to worse. Watching videos of thousands of aggressive men from third world countries arriving on European shores like an army every day seems scary to me. What is even more scary is this is a continuing trend which has been going on for years. Each time I watch these videos, I weep for Europe as I couldn't help wondering how many Europeans would become their victims because it is very obvious from their hooligan behavior that these aggressive men are not easy to control. How many millions of them are already in Europe? What is the solution to the European migrant crisis? According to Hungary PM Viktor Orban, "Don't let them in, and those who are in, send home." Denmark is therefore doing the right thing and the best thing to help solve the European migrant crisis. If the other EU countries were to emulate Denmark, there would be zero asylum seekers and Europe would regain its former glory. 

Before I proceed any further, I would like to share a real life story, The Parable of Ming Ming, with my readers because this story explains the situation of Syrian refugees in Denmark very precisely. Here it goes. When I was only ten, we had new neighbours, a young mother, her live-in boyfriend, and her two-year-old son from a former marriage. The toddler's name was Ming Ming and he was a cute little boy. When this family first moved in, the young mother begged my grandmother to babysit her son as there was no one to look after him when she went to work. Out of compassion, my grandmother agreed on the condition that she must get a babysitter to look after him as soon as possible. We did not ask her to pay for anything because it was understood that the situation was only temporary. Since my grandmother had a lot of housework to do, she asked me to babysit Ming Ming for her. During the first two months, I enjoyed looking after this little boy but as time passed, I could sense that something was terribly wrong. My mom had introduced several babysitters to Ming Ming's mother but she always gave silly excuses saying that these babysitters were not suitable for her son. After more than five months, Ming Ming was still with us and I told my grandmother that I would not babysit him anymore because I had no time to study. Since his mother's boyfriend was not really doing anything at all, my grandmother suggested that he should look after the toddler instead of hanging around doing nothing the whole day. Ming Ming's mother was furious and went around telling bad things about my family to the neighbors. One of the neighbors even came to us and told us how Ming Ming was being tortured by his mother's boyfriend who caned him each time he cried. The question is - how come those neighbors who criticized my family for not babysitting Ming Ming were not doing anything to help him? Since my family had looked after him for more than 5 months, it was only fair that the other neighbors should do their part. If they were so concerned of him, then they should take turns to babysit him! Sad to say, after babysitting him for more than five months, my family did not get a single cent or a word of praise from anyone but ended up being criticized by the neighbors.

Well, The Parable of Ming Ming seems to apply equally well to Denmark's deportation story. After supporting the Syrians for so many years, Denmark is now facing criticism for sending them back to their own country. Instead of criticizing Denmark, perhaps those who feel that Damascus is not safe should adopt a Syrian family each. Or perhaps they can buy a piece of land and build houses for them and pay for their upkeep. If they are not doing anything to help, they have no right to criticize Denmark. These people are just like the neighbors who kept pressuring my family to look after Ming Ming while they themselves did nothing to help. Even though we were under no obligation to babysit Ming Ming, we still fed him and cared for him free of charge for more than five months and that was certainly more than what a good samaritan would do. It would be really ridiculous if my family were to take over the responsibility to care for Ming Ming just because his stepfather did not look after him well. Similarly, Denmark has no obligation to take in migrants and has done more than enough for them on humanitarian grounds. It is illogical to assume that Denmark should take over the responsibility to support Syrian refugees just because their country is not doing a good job. In 2015 alone, Denmark took in 21,300 migrants and it does not seem fair that the country has to face such severe criticisms for deporting just a few hundred of them. Does it mean that once Denmark has taken them in, they are entitled to stay in the country forever? What are the consequences if they were allowed to stay? Since migrants are breeding faster than rabbits, there is an increase strain on the country's resources. Apart from security risks, it is also not easy to support them because there are too many of them. The money spent on them should be used to improve the lives of the Danes particularly when the country is facing an economic downturn due to the pandemic. It is also very unfair to the Danes who have to work so hard to pay taxes and support them. Please click here to read about a Syrian man eating his meal in a tent with one wife and eleven children. Even though he is fleeing war and there is not enough food for the family, he can still afford to have eleven children. What about those who are living comfortably in Europe and are being supported by their host countries? Surely they can take a few more wives and make even more babies! With a fertility rate of 1.77 births per woman as of 2020, can the Danes pay enough taxes to support migrants with a fertility rate of 11 births (or more) per woman twenty or thirty years from now if the migrant exodus to Europe continues?

So what is the problem with the Syrian refugees? After living a comfortable life in Denmark for years, it is not easy for them to go home and rebuild their country because it will take a lot of hard work to start all over again. In Denmark, everything is provided for them but once they return to their country, they will have to be very independent. There will be no more allowance and other generous benefits for them and they will have to work very hard to earn a living. So what are the similarities between their problem and Ming Ming's mother's problem? Well, Ming Ming's mother was so used to getting everything free from my family that she was extremely reluctant to pay for a babysitter for her son. Paying for a babysitter would mean that she had to work harder to earn more money and spend less on clothes and cosmetics and that wasn't a very good idea. Further, the babysitter might be staying far away and it would be inconvenient for her to send her son to the babysitter every morning and fetch him in the evenings. Therefore, the best solution for her is to make my family babysit Ming Ming free of charge. She did not want to let go the convenient life that she had enjoyed for more than five months. Well, is this what we call human nature? Similarly, returning to Syria after the war would cause the Syrians a lot of inconvenience and they would have to make lots of sacrifices because there is no free lunch in their country. Living in an advanced country in Europe is certainly more comfortable than living in a third world country. After living an easy life, it would be tough for them to let it go and get accustomed to a less agreeable lifestyle. Even as a tourist in Europe, I felt like crying each time I left even though I did not get any allowance, welfare payments or any generous benefits. What about migrants who are given VIP treatment? The best solution is, of course, to stay in Denmark forever and enjoy their allowance and other generous benefits that come with their refugee status. Is Syria safe? Please click here to watch a recent video of beautiful Damascus with its gorgeous food. The things in this beautiful city are really cheap. There is no doubt that Syria is safe now.

When we see beggars on the streets, most of us would just walk past without giving second thought. This is the norm. But, we do have many kind people who would donate some money to the beggars even though they know that they may be scolded, especially by the Rohingya children beggars, if the amount of money they donate is less than RM5. Whatever the situation may be, in Malaysia, we don't take in beggars into our homes and support them for years. Nor do we give money to migrants when we deport them because they are not our citizens. In fact, very few countries in this world would treat migrants like VIPs. However, in Denmark, migrants have been given a home, welfare payments, and other generous benefits for years and therefore we cannot deny the fact that the country has been overly generous to them. Even though Denmark is under no obligation to help them, it is giving each of them 175,000 Danish crowns ($28, 427) to go home and rebuild their country. That is a lot of money to spend on migrants so what else do they want? Many people work for their entire lives but still cannot afford to save this amount of money. Migrants can never afford to pay back what they owe Denmark so they should at least be grateful to the country for reaching out to help them when they needed help.

In The Parable of Ming Ming above, it was obvious that Ming Ming's mother had problems because she was living with a man who did not like her son and who always ill-treated him. However, instead of passing the buck to my family, she should sort our her problems and plan how to give her son a better life. If the problem was her do-nothing live-in boyfriend, then she should dump him. Or she could work harder to make more money and send her son to a babysitter. Or she could beg her family members to help her. Sending her son to my family for our free babysitting services was a bad solution to her problems. She shouldn't give problems to people who are totally unrelated to her and learn to be responsible for her own life. Similarly, the Syrian refugees should learn to deal with and solve their own problems instead of passing the buck to Denmark. What is their problem? No place to stay when they return home? With the money given to them, they can easily rent a room or an apartment or even buy / build a new house. No job? Go and look for one or they can even set up their own business since Denmark has given them a large sum of money to rebuild their country. Don't tell me that they are so used to welfare benefits that they cannot survive once they leave Denmark! Want to continue with their studies? There are lots of schools and universities in Syria. Poverty? With $28,427, they cannot be considered as poor. Many Malaysians only have a few ringgit left in their pockets by the end of the month and yet they are surviving. Not safe? There are many places that are safe in Syria. If tourists can visit Damascus now, how come Syrians cannot return home? They should be responsible for themselves and after their dream holiday in Denmark, it's time for them to wake up, face reality, work hard and start all over again. No more free lunch for them. Now that Syria is safe, they should return home to rebuild their country and stop giving lame excuses. They should also stop giving anymore problems to Denmark and remember to thank Denmark for giving them a free holiday and lots of generous benefits for so many years. A trip to Europe for two weeks costs RM10000. Many Malaysians cannot afford to save RM10000 after working for years. But, with RM10000, we still cannot afford to stay in 4-star hotels. In Europe, only refugees (irrespective of whether they are fake or real) can stay in 4-start hotels free of charge for years and get free nutritious meals because they are VIPs. Let's hope that these VIPs will stop complaining and start living independently.

There's no such thing as a free lunch (Milton Friedman). The free holidays are over for Syrian refugees and its time to go back, work hard and rebuild their country. Their country needs them.

How come no one has ever criticized China, Japan, Korea and the rich Gulf countries for not taking in refugees and giving them free lunches? How come these countries are not blamed for the death of the agressive men on boats attempting to cross borders illegally? Because it is not their style to adopt refugees. Similarly, in The Parable of Ming Ming above, the neighbors blamed my family because Ming Ming's stepfather ill-treated him. But, why didn't they blame themselves and the other neighbors as well? Because it was not their style to help to babysit Ming Ming. The moral of the story is - be careful when you help others as they may become your lifetime obligation and burden. Once you stop helping them, you would be criticized by the whole world but you would not receive any praises for your acts of kindness. The people you help may also give you a lot of problems and you may even be criticized for not doing enough for them even though you have given your best to them. Instead of feeling grateful to you for your help, they may end up having hostile thoughts and feelings towards you unless you continue to give them what they want forever. This is what is happening in Denmark. Even though most of Syria is safe now, it seems that the whole world is criticizing Denmark for encouraging Syrians to go home and the Syrians are not happy with Denmark because they do not want to go home. 

Given the fact that migrants are not only smart people but are also experts in smuggling themselves to their favored destinations, there is no need for Denmark to worry about their future. Once they leave Denmark, they could easily smuggle themselves into Germany, France, Sweden, Belgium, or the UK as these countries seem to welcome them. When they arrive in these countries, they could mutilate their fingers to conceal their identity and apply for asylum. If they want more money, they could scam the German aid program by applying with 'up to 12' fake IDs. With the $28,427 given to them by Denmark, they are filthy rich.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's aim for zero asylum seekers is truly one of the best things she can do for her country. Looking at the numerous heinous crimes and brutal rapes committed by aggressive male migrants in the EU countries that have taken in millions of migrants, the Danes must be very grateful to their Prime Minister for taking this golden step. Twenty or thirty years from now, when the other EU countries are overpopulated with migrants, the Danes, feeling proud of their country with zero asylum seekers, would look back and say, "Thank you Mette Frederiksen. We have the best Prime Minister in the world." Yes, Denmark has some of the best leaders in the world who love and protect their country and people.


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